The one who is truly a companion is the one who aids his brother according to that which he (the one reminding) is able to do, even if it is with the statement of good. He aids him by way of giving (his brother) the (beneficial) advice (even if that advice goes) against him. When he forgets anything, he reminds him in order that he (i.e. the one reminding) establishes the rights of companionship. (This is) especially in that which is connected to the matters of the religion. He reminds him, advises him and does good to him. All of that is from fulfilling the rights of companionship. As for the one who doesn’t remind you when you forget, and he doesn’t aid you when you are in need of him, (then) indeed he has not established the rights of companionship. That’s because he doesn’t know its status and the status of that which comes as a result of fulfilling (rights of companionship) with the companions (that he have).

Like this:

The reality of what the Salafi scholars say about ISIS, al-Nuṣrah, al-Qaeda and politically charged extremist groups in light of misleading media reports.

They have pledged allegiance to the Devil.” [Shaykh Abdul Muḥsin ʿAbād on those who give allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdādī]

As concerns continue to arise about the situation in Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Shams (ISIS) has announced the alleged Caliphate, a number of so-called experts and academics have attempted to describe who ISIS is and what their aims are. However, unfortunately we keep hearing unsubstantiated claims, hysteria and misinformation. At a time when people need accurate answers and credible solutions to highlight the problem and prevent the influx of foreign fighters to this region. I have compiled a number of edicts from a group of senior Salafī scholars, which are intended to accurately clarify the Salafist position on these issues.

Like this:

It has been announced in Saudi Arabia, by the High Judiciary Council that the first day of Ramadan – Inshaa’Allaah, will be on Sunday 29th June 2014. Therefore, we shall complete 30 days of Sha’baanand begin the Taraweeh prayer after Ishaa on the night of Saturday 28th June Insha’Allaah.

May Allaah guide us and you to that which He loves and is pleased with. To Allaah lies all Success and may the peace and salutations of Allaah be upon his Messenger, his Family and Companions.

O Muslims, verily the person does not know where he will die. And he does not know when he will die. As Allah the Exalted said:
(وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ مَاذَا تَكْسِبُ غَداً وَمَا تَدْرِي نَفْسٌ بِأَيِّ أَرْضٍ تَمُوتُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ)(لقمان: من الآية34)

No person knows what he will earn tomorrow, and no person knows in what land he will die. Verily, Allah is All-Knower, All-Aware (of things). (Soorah Luqman 31: 34)

If we don’t know what we will earn tomorrow while this is from our actions, then surely we do not know when we will die as this is from the actions of Allah the Exalted. Since we do not know in what land we will die, despite the fact that the person travels to the land by choice, and since we do not know when we will die, therefore the place of death is unknown and the time of death is unknown. We ask Allah to grant us and you and good ending.

It is not importance when the person will die or where the person will die. It is not important that he dies in Mecca or in Medina or another place from the lands of Allah. It is not important that he dies on Friday, or Monday or any other day of the week. The only thing which is important is in what condition the person will die. This is what is important. In what condition will the person die? Will you die upon Imaan (faith), sincerity, and Tawheed? We ask Allah to grant this to all of us. Or will you die upon doubt, shirk, kufr and obstinacy and ingratitude? This is what is important; this is what is important,O Muslims. But whoever wants to die upon good then let him do good. For surely Allah the Exalted is too Generous and too Kind to abandon His slave during the time of difficulty if he used to know and acknowledge Allah in times of ease.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلمsaid:

تَعَرَّفْ إلَى اللَّهِ فِي الرَّخَاءِ يَعْرِفُك فِي الشِّدَّةِ
Know and acknowledge Allah in times of ease and prosperity, and He will know you in times of difficulty.

What is more difficult than the person’s life coming to an end, what is more difficult than the person leaving this world?! Thus if the person knew and acknowledged his Lord during times of ease, by obedience to Him and drawing near to Him with worship of Him and constantly remembering Him, then surely Allah the Exalted will know him during his time of difficulty. May Allah grant us and you that. The only thing that matters is in what condition the person will die.

And this is my path, leading straight, so follow it and follow not the other paths for they will lead you astray from His path. This He instructs you that you may protect (yourselves, have taqwā). Meaning of Qurʾān 6:153

O you who believe! Obey Alāh and obey His Messenger and those in authority amongst you; and if you differ over anything refer it back to Allāh and the Messenger if you truly believe in Allāh and the Last Day. That is best for you and will result in the best outcome. Meaning of Qurʾān 4:59

The Prophet – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – said:

For he who lives long amongst you will see much controversy. Thus you must follow my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after me. Adhere to it with all your strength …

This is what Allāh and His Messenger have commanded us to do when scholars differ over an issue, i.e. we take from their statements and positions what is supported by evidence (dalīl) from the Book and Sunnah and we leave what contradicts the evidence; because this is the sign of having true belief in Allāh and the Hereafter, and because this is best for us and will result in the best outcome. [Allāh told us] that if we accept statements and opinions that contradict the evidence, this will separate us from the path of Allāh and put us on the path of misguidance; like He also told us about the Jews and Christians, that they ‘took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allāh’. When ʿAdī b. Ḥātim – Allāh be pleased with him – had difficulty understanding how they had taken [their rabbis and monks] as lords besides Allāh, the Prophet – Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon him – explained that their taking them as lords meant obeying them in making permissible (ḥalāl) what Allāh had forbidden (ḥarām) and making forbidden what Allāh had made ḥalāl.

Many people nowadays, if you see them doing something wrong and forbid them, will say to you, “There is a difference of opinion on this issue.” They take difference of opinion as a justification for what they are doing, even if it contradicts the evidence. So what is the difference between such people and what the People of Scripture who took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allāh did? These people must fear Allāh for themselves and they must understand that the existence of a difference of opinion on an issue does not permit them to contradict the evidence. It has got so bad that many ignorant people have started to search through opinions saved on [their] computers, quoted from books about differences of opinion, and begun to give verdicts based on what agrees with their desires from those various opinions, without distinguishing opinions backed by correct evidence from those that are not, either because of their ignorance or because of their personal desires. An ignorant person is not allowed to speak about the law and religion (sharʿ) of Allāh based on what he has read or watched in some recording while he does not know how correct it is and what basis it has in the Book and Sunnah. Allāh did not command us to simply refer back to what is in a fiqh book without understanding [the correctness of the evidence]. Rather, He commanded us to ask the people of knowledge when He said:

Ask the people of knowledge if you know not. Meaning of Qurʾān 16:43

A person who has desires is not allowed to take his desires as a god besides Allāh, adopting opinions that agree with his desires and leaving those that do not. Allāh taʿālā said:

And who is more astray than he who follows his desires without guidance from Allāh? Meaning of Qurʾān 28:50

Have you seen the one who takes his desires as his god? Are you then going to be a warden over him? Meaning of Qurʾān 25:43

And it is not allowed for anyone who has knowledge to seek out for people what agrees with their desires [and give it to them through verdicts, answers], thus misleading them from the path of Allāh, with the excuse of facilitating matters for people, because facilitating things for people is achieved by following the evidence. Lest he be one of those about whom Allāh said:

They will be liable for their sins in full on the Day of Resurrection and in part for the sins of those they lead astray without knowledge. Meaning of Qurʾān 16:25

May Allāh give us all success in beneficial knowledge and righteous action. And may Allāh’s peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muḥammad and upon his Family and Companions.

~

Ṣāliḥ b. Fawzān Al-Fawzān (hafidhahullaah)
Member of the Council of Senior Scholars

Question: We find that some of the rugs we pray on have images of the Ka’ba and Masjid An-Nabawi on them, so what is the ruling on praying on these rugs?

Shaykh bin Baz: These rugs should not be prayed on. Standing on the Ka’ba and having it beneath your feet is a type of belittlement. It is not permissible to place images of the Ka’ba upon rugs and we should not purchase them. Because if it is in front of him it will be a distraction, and if it is beneath his feet then it is considered denigration. Therefore to be on the safe side the believer should not use these rugs.

Question: Noble Shaykh, we would like for you to give some golden advices to some of the religious youth who are constantly using the internet, may Allaah reward you with good.

Answer: Na’am. It is known that the internet contains good and it contains evil. The one who desires good therein shall find it. It contains legislative sciences, linguistic sciences, the knowledge of industry, and other than it. It also contains unadulterated evil; in it are many evils. It has reached me that its dangers are more severe than that of the satellite channels.

So my advice to my brothers as it relates to the internet or the satellite channels is that they have Taqwaa of Allaah within themselves and that they know that they were not created for this. They were created for the worship of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic. And that when they reduce themselves to that which resembles animals—and this is by way of fulfilling lusts and desires—then they have lost this life and the Hereafter, and the refuge is with Allaah. So it is upon my Muslim brothers to preserve their religion and to preserve their time and to not waste this precious, precious, precious life. By Allaah, one minute is greater than a thousand Dirhams. Don’t you see, that when death comes, if it were said to the person: “Would you like to give us the entire Dunyaa so that We would delay (death) for one minute?”He would say: “Yes!” Due to this, Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, says:

Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: “My Lord! Send me back so that I may do good in that which I have left behind!” No! It is but a word that he speaks, and behind them is Barzakh (a barrier) until the Day when they will be resurrected. (Al-Mu’minun 23:99-100)

I ask Allaah for us all to have a good ending. Due to this, there has come within a Hadeeth:

“There is none who dies except that he has regret. If he was a good-doer then he regrets that he did not do more. If he was a sinner then he regrets that he did not repent.”

Preserve your lifespan, my brother. By Allaah, it is more precious than gold and silver. If a person would not squander a single Dirham, then how could he squander this lifespan upon which revolves (his) happiness or misery?

O Allaah, make us from those who are happy. O Allaah, make us from those who are happy; O Allaah, make us from those who are happy, O Lord of all that exists.

The point is that it is upon he who desires safety in his religion to beware of innovations, both small and large; and he should not belittle any innovation. As an example, there are those who make light of the innovation of Tasbeeh¹ upon Dhikr beads. Had the companions saw these Dhikr beads they would have repudiated them sternly; as Ibn Mas’ood criticized the people counting out the Takbeer², the Tahleel³, the Tasbeeh, and the Tahmeed with the stones. There is no difference between the one who makes Tasbeeh with stones and the one who does so with the Dhikr beads. This one is an innovation and that one is an innovation.

The Dhikr beads is a small innovation in the eyes of some, and they think that it is only disliked and that it (simply) opposes that which is better. But the strongest view is that it is prohibited. The prohibition is from two perspectives:

The First Perspective: It is from the newly invented matters in Dhikr which neither the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) did nor did anyone from his companions.

The Second Perspective: The verifiers have affirmed that these Dhikr beads were taken from the Christians and the Hindus. He who enters into the churches of the Christians will find these Dhikr beads. As will he who enters into the temples of the Hindus. The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:

“He who imitates a people is from them.”

So it is not permissible to resemble the polytheists in their practices. This is a great prohibited matter which could lead to Kufr.

Due to this, to use Dhikr beads to make Tasbeeh, Tahleel, and Tahmeed4 is a prohibited innovation; and he who does it is on the verge of falling into a larger innovation. This is the case of many people. You find him making light of an innovation, then after that you find him falling into big innovations; from Khurooj, which is the Manhaj of the Khawaarij that is based upon declaring the sinners from the Muslims to be disbelievers and deeming their blood to be permissible; as was the case of those people who were making Tasbeeh with the stones. Their end result was the same.

~

¹Saying: Sub’haan-Allaah (Glorified be Allaah)²Saying Allaahu Akbar³Saying: Laa Ilaha Illa-Allaah (None has the right to be worshiped except Allaah)4Saying: Al-Hamdulillaah (All the praise is for Allaah)

What or who is Salaf?

The manhaj (methodology) of the Salaf is to adhere to the Qur'aan and the authentic Sunnah as understood by the Salaf as-Saalih.

The word Salaf is a shortened version of the word 'Salaf as-Saalih', which means the 'Righteous Predecessors'.

It refers specifically to the first three generations of Islaam in which the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) described as being the best generations of Muslims. The first, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and his Sahaabah (companions). The second, the Taabi'een (the followers of the companions). The third, the Tabaa'at-Taabi'een (the followers of the followers of the companions).

Generally, this term refers to all those pious predecessors who followed the way of the Salaf and who have preceded us in time. This is the true manhaj of Ahl as-Sunnah wa al-Jamaa'ah.

>>How they prayed

From the lives of our pious predecessors:

UMAR (radiallaahu anhu) became unconscious after he was stabbed, and it was said: “Nothing would wake him up except the call to prayer, if he is still alive.”They said to him, “The prayer has finished, O Leader of the Believers!”He woke up and said,“The prayer, by Allah! Verily, there is no share in Islam for whoever abandons the prayer.”He performed the prayer while his wound was bleeding. (Sifat As-Safwah 2/131, As-Siyar 5/220)

Words of Wisdom

“If you do not find any sweetness and relaxation in your heart from a [good] deed, then you should suspect your heart. Verily, Allâh is grateful. That is, He must reward the doer of the deed for his deed in this world by a sweetness he finds in his heart, a stronger feeling of relaxation and a joy in his eyes. If the person does not find these things, it means that something has entered upon his deed [and made it not correct and purely for Allâh’s sake].” [Ibn Qayyim, Madârij, Vol. 2, P. 68]

Archives

References

**10 Points on the Salafee Manhaj**

1. We worship Allaah by way of Tawheed. So we do not supplicate to anyone besides Allaah nor do we seek refuge in anyone besides Him in matters of bringing about good or repelling some harm. We perform worship by having hatred and enmity for the polytheists. However, we are obligated to call them to Tawheed first and clarify to them that there is no Islaam without Tawheed and that whoever calls unto other than Allaah has committed disbelief. So whoever persists after that, then at that point we are obligated to distance ourselves from him and hate him for the sake of Allaah.

2. The Creed of the Salaf is established upon the principle that "Allaah is described with what He has described himself with in His Book and upon the tongue of His Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam), without resorting to tahreef, tamtheel, tashbeeh, ta’teel or ta’weel." [1]

3. We affirm for Allaah the best of Names, which He has affirmed for Himself and which He has praised Himself with, whether they are mentioned in the Qur’aan or the Sunnah.

4. We believe that there is no path towards achieving Allaah’s contentment, or a way towards Paradise, except through the Way of Allaah’s Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). And whoever seeks a way towards gaining Allaah’s contentment through other than the Way of Allaah’s Messenger,then he has gone astray and been blinded from the truth. And he has lost in this world and the next.

5. We believe that the Legislation of Allaah is what has been brought down through the two revelations: The Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (sallAllaahu 'alayhi wa sallam). This is what our Lord has indicated in his saying: "Then we placed you on a Sharee'ah (Legislated System) based on Our Command, so follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who have no knowledge." [Surah Al-Jaathiyah: 18]

6. We believe that the Qur’aan is the Speech of Allaah, which was revealed and not created, and that the Sunnah is what explains and clarifies it. The Qur’aan is interpreted by the Sunnah and by the interpretations of the Sahaabah (Companions) and those who followed them in goodness. So the interpretation of the Qur’aan is by way of the narration, meaning by way of the Sahaabah, the Taabi’een and the Ahaadeeth concerning it. And the books that contain these interpretations are the ones we are obligated to acquire and read, such as the Tafseer of Ibn Jareer, the Tafseer of Ibn Katheer, the Tafseer of Al-Baghawee, the Tafseer "Ad-Durr Al-Manthoor" of As-Suyootee and so on.

7. We are obligated to take the Sunnah according to the way of the Muhadditheen - in terms of their authenticity or weakness. So we take what is found to be authentic and leave off what is weak.

8. We worship Allaah by obeying the rulers, as long as they are Muslims who seek judgement through Allaah’s Legislation and who establish the prescribed punishments, and as long as they establish the prayer. Obeying them is an obligation even if they commit oppression. And whoever says something contrary to this and makes it permissible to revolt against the Muslim leader, even if he may be oppressive, then he is an innovator and a deviant. And it is obligatory on the Muslim scholars to refute this statement of his and to expose his deviance.

9. We hold that it is not permissible to spread the faults of the leaders, because doing this influences and brings about trials and afflictions (fitan), and causes them to spread.

10. We are obligated to worship Allaah through the Sunnah, by following it and by loathing innovations and the innovators. This is based on the Prophet’s saying: "Whoever does a deed, which is not in accordance to our affair (i.e. the Sunnah) is rejected." And in another narration: "Whoever introduces into our affair (Sunnah) that which isn’t part of it is rejected."

***This is a summary and some brief words on the Creed of the Salaf, which we are obligated to accept and follow if we truly want salvation and the truth. And we must renounce those opinions of men, which cannot be traced back to any source of evidence, since men are known by way of the truth and the truth is not known by way of men. Lastly, we must beg and implore Allaah to show us the truth as true and enable us to follow it, and to show us the falsehood as false and enable us to avoid it. Indeed Allaah is Responsible for that and Able to make it happen. And may the peace and blessings of Allaah be on Muhammad - the best, most dutiful, most pious and purest of creation - and on his family and his Companions.

[1] Translator’s Note: These are forbidden acts committed against Allaah’s Names and Attributes. Tahreef means to change or distort the wording of Allaah’s name or attribute. Tamtheel and tashbeeh means to give a like resemblance to a name or an attribute. Ta’teel means total denial of a name or an attribute. Ta’weel means to misinterpret a name or an attribute, thus changing it’s meaning.